City Of Houston To Offer Free Email To Residents

Don Symes writes: "The City of Houston is getting ready to roll out 'free' email and web-hosted word processing. First to libraries and fire stations(!?), poorer areas, then to those who can afford ISPs." It would be interesting to compare the cost of Internet Access Technologies' multi-million dollar contract with private ISP access, especially for the dozen other cities considering similar deals.

Comments

Digital divide

[Faux_Pseudo]

We saw an opportunity in the information age . . . to bridge the digital divide

Can some one tell how bad the digital divide was before the information age?

Needless to say I am really happy that since the information age is here we can fix this problem.

Houston to Give Itself Legal Headaches;Mediocre PR

[lawyamike]

This is nothing more than a boondoggle, a misallocation of resources. Why don't they also give everyone a yourname.houston.tx.us web page, or any other service that is easily available gratis for everyone whom would take advantage of it.

If the private sector is performing a service amicably -- e.g., providing free e-mail accounts to anyone with web access -- why would a locality waste even a tiny bit of resources to accomplish the same?

The odd legal twist on this -- that reason that I am even posting on this thread -- is that the Houston e-mail account doubtlessly will be more constrained than AOL or its ilk in what it can and cannot do to subscribers.

For example, let's say that some enterprising young tech at Houston's e-mail server decides to start reading e-mail at random, with the intention of invading privacy. That could satisfy the state action requirement necessary to make out a constitutional claim, with attorneys fees available for even a suit that garners only nominal damages.

For a more dramatic example, let's say that the e-mail system is administered in a way that creates a disparate impact on racial minorities. Let's say that some nut commandeers a server and spams hatemail across the ether. The state could be liable where a private actor would not be. (The constitutional generally only prevents state action that impinges on a citizen's rights, not the same conduct undertaken by a private actor.)

That's without even touching on the potential liability under Title VI and other federal statutes if the e-mail program employs federal funds.

Why would any municipality want to do this?

Re:Great idea, but will it reach its potential?

[spudnic]

No, no, no, and finally, no. I've worked with a couple of freenet projects. We took donated old PC hardware, fixed it up and provided it free of charge (along with a free account with an ISP) to people who just couldn't afford to pay.

Strange as it may seem to you, there are people who can't afford this who can read.

Some are old folks who use the Internet as a companion when nobody else is around. Others are inner-city and/or very rural kids whose parents are so screwed up that they can barely afford to keep the electricity on, much less provide connectivity.

The Internet to them can be a form of escape. Not only in the sense of a mental escape from their harsh reality, but in a physical escape from the poverty that surrounds them by utilizing the information that they then have access to via the 'net to make a better life for themselves.

No, not everyone who can read has ready access to a computer and the Internet. Not even close.